A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

a distinguished grammarian and poet, who flourished at Rome during the last years of the republic. Some persons asserted, that he was of Gaulish extraction, the freedman of a certain Bursenus; but he himself, in a little work entitled Indignatio, maintained, that he was pure from all servile stain, that he had lost his father while still under age, and had been stripped of his patrimony during the troubles which attended the usurpation of Sulla. Having studied under Philocomus with Lucilius for a text-book, he afterwards acted as preceptor to many persons of high station, and was considered particularly successful in training such as had a turn for poetry. In this manner he seems to have accumulated considerable wealth; for we find that at one period he was the possessor of a magnificent abode at Tusculum; but, having fallen into difficulties, he was obliged to yield up this villa to his creditors, and retired to a poor hovel, where the remainder of his life, which was prolonged to extreme old age, was passed in the greatest penury.

[W.R]